Metamodeling themes are currently appearing in a number of
application areas (e.g., UML, XML, E-Commerce, etc.). Its foundations, however,
can be traced back to the ancient world. Fundamental questions of modeling were
already discussed by Plato and Aristotle, later refined by mathematicians like
Frege and finally brought into connection with meta levels by Russell. The absence
of a well defined description hierarchy may lead to paradoxes and should, therefore,
best be avoided.

Our current research activities and
lectures focus on the application of known but also novel
metamodeling techniques, in particular in conjunction with the definition and
use of the UML. Furthermore, we describe and develop architectures on the basis
of a hierarchy of stepwise refined architectural
descriptions with a vision of automated software development in the spirit
of the MDA (Model Driven Architecture) approach. Our theses
section gives an overview of open, running and finished theses.

We collaborate with wibas GmbH on
the development of OpenExpertise, a system of
expertise patterns that help to plan and run IT projects successfully. In addition we assist
in the organisation of the quarterly SPIN
Workshop.